1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of cleaning devices such as hand held dusters and dust mops. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved cleaning pad that exhibits more free fiber, greater fluffiness and greater dust adhesion.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
For decades, hand held feather dusters, dust rags and other cleaning implements have been used as cleaning tools for the removal of dust adhering to furniture such as dressers and coffee tables, electrical appliances such as computers, lights, interior walls, lintels and the like. Thus, it is generally well known to remove dust or dirt from floors, furniture, and other household surfaces by rubbing a dust rag, cloth or other cleaning implement against the surface such that the dust or dirt adheres to the cleaning implement.
Throughout the last half-century, new cleaning implements have been developed to assist the individual in dusting and similar cleaning chores. While hand held dusters and other cleaning implements are generally well known in the art, numerous drawbacks exist with the current commercially available designs. For example, US Application Pub. No. U.S. 2004/0034956 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,801, U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,784 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,092 disclose variations of hand held cleaning devices incorporating a disposable cleaning pad. These devices, while somewhat suitable for the desired application, exhibit notable limitations.
However, there is a need to improve the cloths associated with such systems and how they are used. Many of the known disposable dusting or cleaning cloths include fabrics that do not adequately retain water and/or dust. FIG. 33 illustrates one example of a prior art cleaning pad 800. The cleaning pad 800 includes a fiber bundle or fiber mat 807 bonded to a base sheet 802. As illustrated by FIG. 33, the individual fibers of the fiber mat 807 are bonded to the base sheet 802 at bonding lines 806a, 806b. In addition, the fibers of the fiber mat 807 are bonded at joining lines 810. This bonding architecture results in a tightly bonded fiber mat 807, with extremely minimal amounts of free fibers in the fiber mat 807. As a result, the prior art cleaning pad 800 has a tendency to push dust across a surface as opposed to retaining and absorbing dust.
While some improvements to dusting cloths are disclosed in the art, there remains a need for an improved cleaning pad and fiber orientation that maximizes the retention of the dusting pad.